1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of automated electronic communications systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to systems and methods for electronically monitoring events associated with the transmission of electronic mail messages as well as the storage of information that is generated pertaining to the monitoring of various events in the life of an electronic mail message. Specifically, in accordance with the preferred exemplary embodiment, the systems and methods of the present invention may be utilized to provide tracking information pertaining to the access and utilization of electronic mail messages and includes sophisticated techniques for automatically storing this information. Additionally, the systems and methods disclosed herein may be utilized for the purpose of generating electronic mail message lists.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic mail messaging has grown dramatically with the corresponding increase in usage and access to computer systems. Electronic mail is now recognized as a simple and convenient means for communicating information and is now widely used in the business world as well as for communicating personal information. It is also widely used in the marketing industry for transmitting advertising information.
Conventional electronic mail messaging systems provide the ability to monitor certain events associated with messages that have been transmitted. The use of so-called “clickthrough” tracking provides the ability to determine when recipients have accessed a message and some systems also provide the ability to ascertain when other events take place such as the opening of a message. One of the shortcomings of these existing electronic mail systems is that the existing systems utilize cumbersome and computationally expensive techniques for storing information relating to what happens with a message once it has been transmitted from an electronic mail server to a recipient.
The amount of information that can be generated regarding access and other events associated with electronic mail messages is extremely large especially for high volume electronic mail messaging systems. The industry has recognized increasing demand for this information as it has been found to be particularly useful in the advertising industry. There are also numerous other applications in other fields as well for this technology. Historically, there has been no convenient, economical and reliable mechanism for receiving and archiving information relating to the monitoring of events associated with an electronic mail message once the message has been transmitted from a mail server.
In existing systems, users are able to receive information regarding when a user initially receives a message and when a recipient accesses a message. For example, Microsoft Outlook is one electronic mail platform that provides this functionality. In this program, a user is able to request a return receipt to indicate when a recipient has received a particular message. As noted above, other additional information is also available concerning other events associated with the message.
There is currently no system available for economically storing large quantities of information in a convenient format pertaining to events that are associated with a large number of electronic mail messages. Furthermore, there is currently no system available for automatically transferring this information into an archive automatically in a quick and convenient manner. These are especially difficult tasks due to the tremendous volume of electronic mail messages that are transmitted from certain systems. The existing systems that are available for storing this information require tremendous amounts of processing time and resources in order to tabulate information and provide reports and tracking information. Accordingly, in order to provide this service, there is a significant expense associated with providing this type of information, especially for systems that handle large lists or provide complex reports.
There is also a need for providing easy access to this information so that electronic mail message lists may be automatically generated. In adopting electronic mail as a mode of communication for retailers, there have been several problems. The manual collection of electronic mail addresses for customers is inefficient, prone to errors and results in the capture of only a small portion of the electronic mail addresses for the customers of a particular store.
In light of these and other shortcomings, the inventors have proposed new systems and methods that provide a variety of techniques for monitoring various events associated with electronic mail messages. The innovations are directed to high volume electronic mail message transmission systems and the storage of information that is derived from monitoring various events in the life of a electronic mail messages. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the storage techniques and innovations disclosed herein may be useful in other applications as well.
Some of the preferred exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods of the present invention are particularly well suited for monitoring and maintaining information relating to access and utilization of electronic messages that are transmitted through high-volume electronic mail messaging systems. Yet additional alternate preferred exemplary embodiments provide systems and methods for automatically generating electronic mail messaging lists that are derived from the access and utilization information generated through the electronic mail monitoring innovations of the present invention.